the last few months have been the most exhilarating and exhausting of my life. after a year of sending out hundreds of job applications, of seeing my savings dwindle down to pennies, of desperately hoping someone would take a chance on me so i could restart my career in a new country, i finally had the attention of every company i’d ever wanted to work with.

it took a year of rejections to push me to the brink of creativity. to get me to think of the simplest yet most effective marketing experiment i’ve created to date. the campaign was designed to get the attention of many companies by targeting one. its reach spread wider than i had expected and opened doors to opportunities i had only dreamed of.

but as companies around the world were reaching out publicly, the one company that i had targeted was privately telling me that i wasn’t a fit for their needs. as emails of support were flooding my inbox, meetings with airbnb’s CMO were cancelled and my followups were met with silence. professionals i admire were calling my work impressive, but the person interviewing me was saying he couldn’t contextualize my experience because i “hadn’t worked at facebook or google or studied at stanford”.

i felt the wind knocked out of me as i heard those words. i remember gasping for breath while trying to maintain a calm exterior. i interlaced my fingers to stop them from shaking, exhaled deeply to control my cadence as i muttered words about my own company’s growth, the clients we had, the work we did, the team we built. but as the interviewer’s eyes wandered out the room in the middle of my monologue, i sensed that my attempts were hopeless. and though they were looking to hire someone to design their social media strategies, despite my 10 years of marketing and social media experience and despite the reach of my latest campaign, i was told i wouldn’t be that person. the decision had been made.

doubt crept into my mind even as other companies continued to reach out. if the one company that benefited from this experiment didn’t want to hire me, what chances would i have with anyone else? i had used all my marketing skills and passion to drive their brand into news tickers around the world – headlines were appearing in chinese, german, arabic and languages i couldn’t recognize. twitter and facebook were abuzz with positive conversations about airbnb, but that wasn’t enough. or maybe it was too much, i’ll never know.

all i do know is that in that moment, i was crushed. gutted. my confidence was shaken. i had a choice, though. i could allow myself to be consumed by doubt, to accept their rejection as a judgement on my skills. or i could push through it by focusing on the bigger picture, on the end goal, which was to get a job at a top tier company in the valley.

messages continued to pour in. from california to calcutta, rome to riyadh, people were telling me that they were inspired by what i had done. some had been facing their own career challenges and said this gave them a glimmer of hope. others asked for details of how it was done so they could try their hand in creativity. all were overwhelmingly kind.

and though the people who wrote told me i had inspired them, the inverse was also true. i drew confidence from the support of strangers. i found strength from their words and gained resilience from their stories.

i met with dozens of companies from established organizations to exciting startups. some reached out directly and others i went after myself. i was finally at the point where i wanted to be a year ago when i first moved to san francisco.

with every interview i learned more about myself and what drives me. i already knew that i wanted to be part of a stellar team, that i wanted the opportunity to grow and learn and do exciting work. and as i answered what felt like an endless stream of questions, i was able to draw in the details to those broad brush strokes.

i found everything that i wanted in upwork (formerly elance-odesk). from the start of our conversations, i was impressed by the way the company focuses on data driven decision making, on experimenting and testing obsessively to improve their product. i was inspired by how they’re helping millions of talented freelancers around the world build their careers online.

i’ve felt a rush of enthusiasm take over me with each person i’ve met there. as i sat through round after round of interviews, i found myself scribbling notes between conversations about what i could see myself learning from each team member. nothing excites me as much as that feeling, that instinct that i’m signing up for something that has so much potential and promise.

and it’s that potential and promise that outshines all of the anxiety and self doubt that i experienced. it’s that feeling that proves to me that the campaign was a success, that by forcing myself outside my comfort zone, by pushing past rejection and focusing on my own goals, i was able to unlock opportunities i would have never had. and for that i’m grateful.

i’m extremely excited to be joining upwork as part of their growth team. (photographed by fares nimri)

by concentrating on one company, i got the attention of many. i’m grateful for all the opportunities i’ve had as a result of linking myself to airbnb. (photographed by shaz khan)

nina4airbnb received over 455,000 visits, millions of social media impressions and resulted in over 14,000 people around the world viewing my resume. click on the image for details on how you can recreate similar campaigns.

Btw, I’m from Amman, and I was encouraged to sign up in upwork as a freelancer, and was always hesitated to do it, thinking employers will reject me for my demographics. But once I heard you joined the team itself, I’m so excited lol I just joined upwork proudly :) Thank you for giving Jordanians a great image there! Wish you all the best! :)

Your ambition is very impressive. You have achieved, and exceeded, your goals. Such performance does not go unnoticed. Upwork is fortunate to have such an energetic, talented person on its staff. They can accomplish great things. Keep up the good work!.You deserve to be proud of your achievement. May your future efforts be equally successful and rewarding.

Hi Nina… congratulations on working with Upwork! I have discovered them a few months ago (and have fallen in love with their concept and how they are a hub for all sorts of freelancers) and it’s such a coincidence that you are now working with them.
I am positive they will value your experience and zeal far more than the company you have targeted in your Nina4 campaign. God works in mysterious ways and sometimes we want something so bad – but we don’t get it – because maybe we are not aware that it isn’t the right place for us….I learnt this the hard way. A couple of years ago I quit an excellent job for a “dream” company, only to realize at a closer look that they were not up to their image. Good luck and Allah yi7meeki :)

though my experience with them didn’t result in a job offer, i still believe that they have a stellar team that is doing very exciting work. those who do work there are lucky to impact the world in the way that they do, and i feel equally lucky to have the same opportunity to impact lives and push for change at upwork! thanks for stopping through

I’m so glad you found a company that actually values you! I bet they feel lucky that Airbnb made such a terrible move. It sounds like their hiring team was downright rude and unprofessional. Congratulations on finding the right fit!

You are an incredibly impressive, intelligent and passionate individual that most companies would kill to have. It’s not you, it’s AirBnB. It’s disgusting that they blatantly rejected you for not having gone to Stanford, worked at Google and Facebook. They lost an opportunity to bring someone on board that would be an amazing asset to their team and this, along with their notoriously horrendous customer service, is why AirBnB can never hope to achieve the likes of Google, Uber and Facebook.

You’re far more talented than them and they’ll kick themselves for not hiring you when they had the chance to in the near future. Cheers to you for being so courageous and bold, you’ll go far!

thank you for the encouragement, d! i truly believe they’re a very talented team and continue to enjoy being part of their community. sometimes life has bigger plans for us, and i’m very happy things worked out this way!

Nina, your positive attitude is absolutely inspiring! I know you probably feel like it’s not always easy, but you make it look effortless. Way to take a challenge and make it into an opportunity for creative problem-solving. There’s always a silver lining, and God always has a plan. So many of us have been there – struggling to get a job and experience to land one. Thanks for sharing so courageously!

Hi Nina.This is amazing.I’m so proud of you now that you’ve grown up into such a talented young lady.Ever since I was your KG2 teacher at Sinbad Nursery,I knew you’d be successful in the future.You had it in you&so did Natasha.Say hi to her&to your dear mom.Wishing you all the best&a successful future.Wafa Mughrabi

Hi Nina! At the company i work for (a multibillion dollar global company) we host a series of career guidance sessions for our department, one of which was called “Personal Branding”. This story came across to me and we shared your story as part of the session. I then read up on your resuume and blog and am completely inspired by your innovativeness and creativity. Sometimes in a large company it’s hard to be agile and innovative – your story helps remind us that there are always ways to think creatively by looking at things and data from different angles. Best of luck at your new position at Upwork!!!

Hey, Nina! Your story about looking for a work in aribnb and finally finding your dream in upwork very inspiring. Two years ago I wanted to move to SF and work as android developer there, but all companies I’ve applied to rejected me. Thank you for sharing your experience!

thank you for stopping by and sharing your story with me, anastasiia! i hope you find the success and happiness you’re looking for despite the rejections which one day might look like minor road blocks in hindsight.

I find myself in a very, very similar situation. However, being trapped in Northeastern Brazil, horizons are quite different! Yet, your attitude gives people like me hope, which is way beyond inspiration! Thank you! You’ve made history and still improved mine!

Nina, you’re amazing, inspiring, talented and the list goes on. Congratulations on your new position. Even though things turned out differently than you had hoped, I have no doubt you will make an impact and I’m excited to see what the future holds for you!

Hi Nina,
I think your application for airbnb, the work and passion you put in there was very impressive! I don’t think I would ever have the guts to do what you did. I’m happy to hear that you got a job at upwork now. I’m currently myself looking for a job as recent grad in marketing or anything related to that and gosh… it’s so frustrating, even more that I thought. Your case gives me a bit of hope at the moment that it might just need some time for me until something works out.
You are awesome!

Nina,
You set an example for everyone! I admire your persistence and resilience. Not many people can bounce back up and continue to be positive like you did. We have a lot to learn from you!
Upwork is lucky to have you on their team. I look forward to seeing your work and success. I have no doubt we will soon be hearing many more accomplishments. You’re a star

I’m torn between giving the credit to airbnb or judging them for being arrogant and blindfolded.

Id give them credit for ‘probably’ being quite determined as they knew what they want while putting aside the emotional factor, being pressured to hire you considering the huge reach and media attention you got with your fantastic campaign…

On the other hand, which im sure of, they lost the greatest opportunity to hire someone who couldve added great value and certainly woudve made a big difference to their future.

The question is… How do you feel about airbnb afterall? would you still wear that tshirt ;)

of course i’d still wear their tshirt. i’m grateful for all the opportunities that i got as a result of being able to attach myself to their brand. i still love the platform and continue to host and will continue to be an active and enthusiastic member of the community.

hi barbara, thanks for stopping by and getting in touch. i’d love to hear more about what you have in mind – especially as syracuse was one of my top choices for undergrad and i have a lot of respect for the programs there. not sure how to contact you so feel free to drop me a line with your contact details or email me through the form on nina4airbnb.com